(Re)membering the Disarticulated Body:  Catalan Nationalism and Cultural Reconstruction, 1975-2017

Hernàndez-Grande, Alícia

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-pm4g-ep61

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(Re)membering the Disarticulated Body: Catalan Nationalism and Cultural Reconstruction, 1975-2017

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This dissertation examines how theatre makers, activists, and politicians staged performances as a tool for rebuilding Catalan cultural identity and strengthening the Catalan independence movement. Through these performances, many Catalonians have sought to define their identity by invoking a retrospective of abuse and trauma, while presenting a united—albeit simplified and idealized—body politic ready for a nation-statehood. In this dissertation, I build a performance genealogy that traces productions from the end of the Franco dictatorship to the 2017 independence referendum. These performances present Catalonia as a historical nation, whose united body politic seeks independence as a form of redress from a traumatic past. Activists have transformed public performance into a political tool for persuading audiences to join the independence cause. I conduct detailed analyses of four theatrical productions in line with a series of mass demonstrations, which together date from 1977 to 2017. By tracking these performances chronologically, I show how, during the last forty years of Spanish democracy, artists and activists build upon one another to create new performances, each time defending Catalonia’s culture, language, and right to independence. Across my case studies, I trace the repertoire of Catalan identity as the creators’ political aims shift from cultural restoration, to exceptionalism, to secession. Chapters 1 and 2 provide close readings of the development process of two anti-Franco productions, La Torna by Els Joglars and Mori el Merma by La Claca, which toured during the Spanish transition to democracy when theatre makers took risks by challenging changing censorship, thus pushing the limits of political expression. Chapter 3 closely examines two showcase performances from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics Opening Ceremony: Mediterani, Mar Olímpic by La Fura dels Baus and Tierra de Pasión by Manuel Huerga and Pepo Sol. The two performances provided contrasting readings of the host nation: one of Catalonian civilization begotten from Greece, the other of the Spanish stereotypes popular with tourists. Chapter 4 shifts to the performative Diada demonstrations, which publicly celebrate Catalonia’s national day while also demanding independence from Spain, demonstrating how organizers use performance to convince their supporters and the wider world that a Catalan nation-state is feasible. Using an autoethnographic approach, the epilogue explores impromptu performances during my own experience of the October 1, 2017 Catalan Referendum for independence. Voters used their bodies and appearances to emphasize the referendum as a democratic exercise and a form of redress for the generation that survived the Spanish Civil War. In this dissertation, I develop an interdisciplinary research methodology to bring in new voices to the understanding of Catalan theatre and performance history. By coupling archival research with interviews, broadcasts, and autoethnographic work, I correct the argument that anti-fascist Catalan theatre ended alongside the France regime. Instead, I reveal how anti-fascist movements developed and borrowed from each other in their own shift from opposing the Franco regime to supporting an independence cause for Catalonia.

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